May Madness

Family: as school ends and outdoor activities pick up, it's time to shift into high gear

May 21, 2000|By Peter Jensen | Peter Jensen,SUN STAFF

Ever wonder why "Mayday" is a call of distress?

Not if you have children with busy schedules. May might be all flowers and songbirds for the poets, but it requires something else of families with children:

Perpetual motion.

May empties the ink from the magic marker on the family calendar. It robs parents of free time. It puts miles on the family car, extra wear on your bleacher seats, and turns dinner into a fast-food drive-through affair.

Families with year-round busy schedules are thrust into hyperdrive in May. Did T.S. Eliot say April was the cruelest month? April is Pollyanna compared with her demanding younger sister. "It takes incredible planning to get through the month," says Caryn Lasser, a mother of three from Clarksville. "In June, you collapse."

Warren and Dolores Hall of Lansdowne know something about May Madness. Dolores handles risk management for a construction company. Her husband is a machinist. They are a pleasant, friendly, even low-key sort of couple.

But their schedule for May gives them little time for such niceties as meals or the evening news. Their daughters -- 15-year-old Casie, a high school freshman, and 11-year-old Kylie, a sixth grader -- are athletes and high-achieving students. Between them, they must be shuttled to a game or practice every night of the week.

But that's just the beginning. Dolores is also active in Lansdowne High School's booster club, running concessions -- not just for her daughter's games, but the boy's games, too. Kylie's in the school band so the family's been helping raise money for a competition at Kings Dominion this weekend.

And then keep in mind that these are students with straight-A grades. So if they need supplies for end-of-school projects, they know they'll have to call their parents at work -- there's little free time for evening shopping trips. "If it's a weekday night and you don't find me at one of their schools, something's wrong," says Dolores. "It gets tough."

The girls do their share, too, particularly this month when their parents are so rushed. To keep the household working, Casie and Kylie are expected to vacuum, keep their rooms cleaned, their beds made, and clothing put away. "My husband and I get to meet up when one is finished with one activity and can show up at the evening's other event to support the other [daughter]," Dolores says.

One day of rest

Caryn Lasser and her husband, Dr. Michael Lasser, a Clarksville pediatrician, have grown accustomed to shuttling their three sons in opposite directions on any given weeknight or Saturday. If they had one more child -- or one less car -- they wonder if they could maintain such a pace.

Their 9-year-old son Phillip has baseball games two nights a week -- the same nights the Lassers' eldest son, Jeff, 12, is playing soccer. Their youngest, Ricky, 6, plays T-ball and Michael coaches the team.

Add to that their end-of-school activities, such as sports parties, enrichment fairs and Cub Scouts (Phil is a member). Then stir in PTA (Caryn is her elementary school treasurer, a member of the middle school executive board), and their own athletic pursuits -- volleyball for Caryn, racquetball for Michael.

The result: Sundays are about the only days in May when the family is together -- and still awake, that is. "Keep in mind their baseball games may last three hours. Baseball isn't a sport, it's a lifestyle," says Caryn.

To make it work, the Lassers have also set ground rules for their children. Only one sport per child in the spring, for instance. More than once, they've had have to hire a baby sitter simply to drive one or more of the boys to a game.

On one recent weekend, Ricky came down with strep throat. But it actually worked to the schedule's advantage -- they didn't have to drive him to two birthday parties he was supposed to attend that Saturday. "We keep talking to the kids about whether it's too much, but they want to do it," says Caryn. "We try to let it be their decision. But once they make a commitment to a team, we encourage them to follow through."

Linda Olszewski, president of Baltimore County's PTA council, says she hears about it from fellow parents this time each year. Between formal dances and spring fairs, teacher appreciation days and athletic tournaments, most families run out of whatever little free time they usually have. "Everyone is stretched to the limit and it doesn't get any better when the children get older," she says.

Olszewski's daughter Lauren is returning from her freshmen year at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, this month. It means the 19-year-old will be taking home a room full of possessions.